Bring blessing into your life through Reb Aharon of Belz zt”l

PROTECTED FROM SIN

In Reb Aharon’s youth, lunches were not provided in cheder (school), and mothers would lovingly pack food for their children before sending them off to learn. One day, young Aharale’s mother prepared for him a lunch of broiled chicken liver and bread. But when the Rebbitzen was about to cook the rest of the chicken, she had a question about its kashrus, which made it — and the liver — unfit to eat. 

She ran to her husband in a panic and said, “The liver is not kosher! What if Chas V’Shalom, our child, should eat it? What should we do?” Aharale’s father, Reb Yisachar Dov, calmed her and said quietly, “Don’t worry, the child will not eat the liver!”

Sure enough, that evening when Aharon came home from cheder, his mother found the untouched liver in his pocket, wrapped up just as she had given it to him!  The Gemara says that Hashem protects Tzaddikim from eating unfit food. This obviously applied to the special child who was already a true Tzaddik at such a tender age.

His mother later asked him, “Aharale, why didn’t you eat the liver? Weren’t you hungry?” He answered her, “Mamma, you know that I usually don’t care much about food. But today, I had such a strong desire to eat this liver, such an urge, that I thought to myself, “I must learn to control myself. I can do without it.”

A RAY OF HOPE 

R’ Shia Yakobovitch a”h, an elderly Yid who lived in Borough Park, recounted the following story. When he first arrived to Auschwitz with the people of his town, not only were they in the valley of death, but they were also shattered and depressed in spirit. They had no will or wish to survive r”l.

One day, as the inmates were making their way to the early morning daily roll call, a Yid approached him and whispered, “the Ruv hut degreicht Eretz Yisroel!” (the Ruv reached Eretz Yisroel). 

It is amazing how they got hold of this piece of information. This piece of news brought them tremendous chizuk and Emunah. “If the Ruv reached Eretz Yisroel, then Klal Yisroel will survive, and if so, I want to survive this too!” said R’ Shia. 

From that moment on, he was a changed person, and B”H survived the war.

The story of the Ruv zt”l’s rebuilding Belz in Israel is an amazing miracle and is a beacon of light of Emunah in times of despair. Tzadikim said that Hashem planted such a Tzadik in this generation to be a chizuk for the hard times that befall Klal Yisroel.

The Yeshiva that the Ruv zt”l established is the seed that made Yiddishkeit blossom after the war. The Ruv zt”l directed every aspect of the Yeshiva: the Limudim, Shabbosim, lunches, and sleeping conditions. It was the pinnacle of the Ruv zt”l’s efforts and the apple of his eye. 

This Yeshiva grew to be the vast Torah Network of Belz with over 16,000 Talmidim.

DON’T DRINK THE MILK

During the war, Reb Shimon Kempler was lucky to have a job that took him outside of the ghetto. While outside, he would sneak over to a farm where a cow was milked daily. Having assured that the milk was kosher, Reb Shimon would fill a bottle, tie it to his waist, and with great risk, smuggle it back into the ghetto for the ailing Rav Aharon to drink. The Rav never questioned how he got the milk or who supervised the milking.

One day, he was caught by the Gestapo and was led by them into the woods, presumably to his death. He miraculously managed to escape them. But the episode made him late, and he arrived at the farm just after the cow had been milked. The farmer told him that he could take some of the fresh milk as usual. He filled the bottle, tied it under his shirt, and smuggled it into the ghetto.

But now he was in a dilemma. Should he tell the Rav that he did not actually observe the cow being milked? The Rav would certainly not drink it since it was not supervised by a Jew during the milking. On the other hand, the Rav was weak and he desperately needed the milk for his health. Maybe it would be best to keep quiet. After all, the farmer was trustworthy, and surely there was nothing un-kosher in the milk.

When he put the milk on the table, the Rav asked him — for the very first time — whether he had been present by the milking. He stammered and stuttered, and before he could reply, the Rav told him gently, “There are many children and mothers in the ghetto who need milk and are being deprived. I shall also forgo the milk.”

LOVE FOR EVERY JEW

An employee of the Rabbinate in the city of Tel Aviv was charged with ensuring that the local stores closed in time for Shabbos. Since this important job lasted until sundown, he davened in the Belz shul, where the davening was a little later than everywhere else. 

After davening, everyone filed passed the Rav to greet him Gut Shabbos! When this Yid passed, the Rav would raise his eyebrows as if asking a question. The man would respond, “Alles iz tzugeshpart,” (“Everything is closed”), and the Rav would smile.

One Shabbos, another Jew substituted for him. When the man passed the Rav to say Gut Shabbos, the Rav asked him who he was. He answered that he was a substitute from the Rabbinate, ensuring all stores were closed on time. The Rav asked him, “Nu, how does it look?”

“Well,” he answered, “The stores are closed except for….” Suddenly he realized that the Rav had stopped listening. As soon as he said, “the stores were closed,” that was enough. The Rav would not listen to a single negative word spoken about another Yid.

THE TZADDIK’S DECREE

During some of the toughest times in Russia, when emigration was all but impossible, one daring man tried to get out of the country with his son. The father escaped, but the son was caught. The father ultimately managed to make his way to Eretz Yisroel. He went to the Belzer Rebbe for a brachah for his son, who had been sentenced to ten years in jail. When the Rav heard about the severe sentence, “Ten years? Would three months not have been sufficient?”

That very day in a Russian prison, the chief guard burst into the cell of this young man and yelled, “What are you doing here? You think that we are not aware that you are stirring up unrest among the prisoners! Get out of here!” He threw him out of the jail with his meager possessions flying behind him!

Eventually, this young man made his way to Eretz Yisroel and joined his father. They figured out that the day the police threw him out of jail was the exact day on which the Rav asked his father, “Would three months not have been sufficient?” He had been in prison three months to the day!